November riots:  Why delay justice?

This newspaper yesterday started chronicling a government report on the November 18-20, 2020 riots that left at least 54 people dead, hundreds injured, and personal and public property destroyed.

 The context of the reportage is that the country will mark one year on Thursday since the outbreak of the protests in Kampala and other major towns, which were triggered by the arrest of then National Unity Platform (NUP) party presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, in the eastern Luuka District on allegations of violating Covid-19 guidelines.

 First, we would like to commiserate with all those that will this week be hosting events to remember their loved ones that perished innocently or out of their own doing 12 months ago.

 However, word on people’s lips now is that none of the families that lost loved ones in the violent protests has received justice or compensation a year later. 

So what happened to the President’s promise to compensate the families?

 “The government will compensate all those who were not rioters, but lost life in this confusion. If you are a rioter, we cannot compensate you. No way! And the government will also compensate those who lost their properties, if it can be verified,” he said in a November 29 address delivered from Mbale.

 The claims by security officials that the investigations into the matter are ongoing and Attorney General’s assertion that thecompensation process is ongoing are discomforting.

 Why is that so? It is easy to identify which security officers manned what areas of the towns in which the mayhem happened and, therefore, easy to tell who committed what crime, unless the government implies that no one is accountable.

 What evidence is the prosecution still looking for to have the accused produced in court after more than 51 weeks?

 Likewise, the names of the dead and their background were well documented by this newspaper and other foreign media houses so the state can’t feign insufficient information. The media houses, moreover, have less resources and capability to collect and verify information than the state so that should not take forever.

 Like the cliché goes, justice delayed in justice denied.  We take this anniversary to remind the government to honour its promise to prosecute those involved in the bloodletting and compensate the families of those affected.

 In the same vein, we use this opportunity o underline the need to safeguard people’s lives and property regardless of the political situation. We cannot afford to go back to the past dark days.

 Let’s have justice served.

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